Leafs Notes: Too late for Jake?

Mike Koster’s only regret in arriving to the Maple Leafs is that Jake Gardiner is likely departing.

Both are offensive defencemen from Minnesota and Koster would love an on-icetutorial or a sit down with Gardiner, who becomes an unrestricted free agent on Monday. Koster is at the MasterCard Centre this week with 37 other prospects at Leaf development camp.

“Hopefully, I meet Jake soon, it would be cool to ask some questions,” said Koster, a fifth round pick from Chaska High School and winner of the Reed Larson Trophy as state high school defenceman of the year. “I’m pretty good friends with Bobby Brink (a high Flyers’ draft pick from Gardiner’s hometown of Minnetonka) and he’d always talk about Jake. He’s had an unbelievable career here so it’s special to be part of this organization now.”

Koster’s 61 points in 26 games earned him the Larson award as he decided to take up more studies and play at home rather than the USHL path followed by many from the area before college. He’ll eventually attend the University of Minnesota.

“Probably one of the toughest decisions I’ve made, but in the end, I was very happy (staying at Chaska). There’s so much pride in the state tournament. We ended up losing early to Eden Prairie, but set some records and won the first conference championship in school history.”

Smallish defencemen (Koster is 5-9, 171 pounds) are a big deal again in the NHL with the shift to more compact, quicker forwards. At age 11, Koster moved from forward to blueline, in part because his team was over-stocked up front.

“They thought I’d do better as a D, with my skills and vision. Look at most teams now and they have smaller, good skating offensive defencemen. Charlie McAvoy (in Boston) is a great example and (Vancouver’s) Quinn Hughes is the one I’ve been watching, how he dominated with skating.

“I still have a lot of work to do, but can see myself being a guy that can skate well, read the play, jump up, help the team score and take care of my own end.”

TICK TOCK ON TALKS

General manager Kyle Dubas’ eyes were on the players Thursday from his perch above the ice, but his ear was constantly to a cellphone. And with July 1 rapidly approaching and with it the next phase of the Mitch Marner contract stand-off, team president Brendan Shanahan was at MCC, too.

Dubas has said any major moves by the club this summer have to wait for Marner’s situation to be settled. Deals for fellow RFAs Kasperi Kapanen and Andreas Johnsson are near completion, but it might take another trade to free more cap space. Defenceman Nikita Zaitsev requested a move, but a trading partner has yet to be found.

Elsewhere Thursday, the Carolina Hurricanes confirmed they’ll buy out former Leaf Patrick Marleau after taking on the last year of the winger’s contract for a first round pick.

WOLL FEELING BLUE

He’s a proud St. Louisan, but Leaf goaltending hopeful Joseph Woll had to downplay his civic pride when the Blues won the Cup earlier this month.

“They’re not my first team anymore, but I was happy for the city and all my friends who cheer for them,” Woll said. “You had to appreciate a team that had momentous change in the middle of the season and won.”

He watched highlights of the Cup parade on TV — in Beantown of all places, where he was studying for exams at Boston College.

“My (Bruin) buddies weren’t happy with me,” laughed Woll of the final result. “Lots of family and friends were there at the parade. I got some videos and followed along on social media.”

A QUARTER CENTURY AGO …

Friday marks 25 years since the Leafs acquired future franchise scoring leader Mats Sundin in a blockbuster with the Nordiques.

The trade, which was completed as the management teams of Toronto and Quebec walked on the draft floor at the Hartford Civic Center, sent Leaf captain Wendel Clark, defenceman Sylvain Lefebvre, forward Landon Wilson and a first rounder to the Nords for Sundin, defenceman Garth Butcher and forward Todd Warriner.

While giving up the high pick didn’t burn Toronto GM Cliff Fletcher (forward Jeff Kealty never played an NHL game for the Nords nor anyone else), the deal he made to get Clark back three years later also came full circle this week. Roberto Luongo, who announced his retirement Tuesday, became the first round pick Toronto sent the Islanders to get Clark, defencemen Mathieu Schneider and D.J. Smith. Also going to New York was defenceman Kenny Jonsson.

LOOSE LEAFS

Free agent WHL grad James Hamblin, who suffered a suspected dislocated knee cap on Tuesday, won’t be back on the ice, but will stay for other camp activities … On Wednesday, the Leaf prospects were invited to the brethren Raptors’ OVO Athletic Centre to try their hand at basketball and see the Larry O’Brien Trophy. Earlier in the week, they were split into teams for a dragon boat race on the Humber River. “My left, my right arm was killing me,” said Nick Robertson, this year’s first pick. “The (instructor) was just yelling ‘harder, harder, harder’. You see it on TV and it doesn’t look like a big deal, but you put yourself in that situation, it’s a lot harder” … Player development director Stephane Robidas was a proud papa when son Justin, a centre, was picked second in the QMJHL midget draft earlier this month by Val-d’Or.

LEAFS EXTEND HUTCH

The Leafs gave themselves a measure of goaltending insurance on Thursday, extending Michael Hutchinson for a year on a one-way contract at $700,000 US according to the salary web site Cap Friendly. Hutchinson was picked up when Garrett Sparks began slumpinvinbtgr season’s second half, playing well through five decisions with a record of 2-3 as Frederik Andersen’s back-up. Hutchinson, 29, had a save percentage of .914 and had played 111 NHL games, mostly with Winnipeg.

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